BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 1,784 Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,341 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,784 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.09% of Silicon Motion Technology worth $1,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 129.4% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 3,971.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 570 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Silicon Motion Technology during the 2nd quarter valued at $139,000. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the third quarter valued at $151,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the second quarter valued at about $220,000. 78.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SIMO opened at $56.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average is $55.92 and its 200 day moving average is $65.46. Silicon Motion Technology Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.50 and a fifty-two week high of $85.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $212.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $209.49 million. Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 11.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is presently 75.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SIMO. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $78.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America lowered Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Silicon Motion Technology from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Silicon Motion Technology from $94.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Craig Hallum reduced their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Silicon Motion Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.67.

About Silicon Motion Technology

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices. The company offers controllers for computing-grade solid state drives (SSDs), which are used in PCs and other client devices; enterprise-grade SSDs used in data centers; eMMC and UFS mobile embedded storage for use in smartphones and IoT devices; flash memory cards and flash drives for use in expandable storage; and specialized SSDs that are used in industrial, commercial, and automotive applications.